Today was going to be kind of a leisurely day of tying up some loose ends of places I wanted to visit if there was time and then attending the London Symphony in the evening. Slept in a little because of my late night last night and then headed out, first up, Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace I was able to tour the state rooms of Buckingham Palace which are only open a few months of the year when the Queen is out of town. No photos allowed. These are the rooms used for state dinners and for meeting with dignitaries. They [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Paris this morning for my quick daytrip. Because it was going to be a quick daytrip, I didn't really make any specific plans and planned for a day of wandering the big sites. Took the Eurostar over which was a great way to travel. The trip took a bit over 3 hours which is longer than normal because of some work they are doing due to a fire a couple weeks ago. I thought it was going pretty fast as it was! You're above ground heading out of the UK, then you go under the English Channel and pop [View Full Entry]

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I wasn’t quite sure what today was going to bring. My main emphasis for the day was going to be the British Museum but I also hoped to get into a tour at Parliament. I wasn’t sure if that was going to happen since Parliament can only be viewed by international visitors through a tour in the months of August and September and since I didn’t have a tour ticket, I wasn’t sure I was going to get in during the final days. Got over to Parliament early and did some walking around. Starting chatting with a tour guide who radioed [View Full Entry]

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After a couple hours delay departing the US, we finally landed in London. Anxious to not lose all of my site seeing day, I fumbled my way onto the tube and to my stop and found my hotel. The tube system seemed easy enough, but the first day is always the roughest when you don’t know what you’re doing. I was; however, already loving my tube pass card. It was about 11 am and my room wasn’t ready, so I dumped by bag and headed out for some site seeing before my body told me I needed sleep (wasn’t able to [View Full Entry]

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Some photos I took of the very beautiful Custer State Park. Located south of Mount Rushmore and home to Lake Sylvan, Cathedral Spires and the Needle's Eye. [View Full Entry]

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Just north of Sturgis, SD is a beautiful drive through Custer National Forest (different from Custer National Park). The white rock just comes out of nowhere in the green rolling hills of northwest South Dakota. Here are a few photos I took on a recent drive to Rapid City. [View Full Entry]

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I really enjoy going to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park this time of year. Have made a couple trips the last month. Luckily, I only live a few hours from the Park so makes for a nice day trip. The Park's Loop is very enjoyable but some of the gravel side roads and short hikes really get you to some wonderful spots of the Park. The Park's grass and trees are so green this time of year which really brings out even more color in the Badlands. I seem to see more of the pinks, reds and blue/gray in the rocks [View Full Entry]

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This was my first trip this year to the International Peace Garden. Located with half on the US and half on the Canadian side, the Garden has a number of flowers, fountains and floral arrangements. Also has a Peace chapel and some other memorials. Unfortunately, it looks like they had just made some flower transplants from their spring to summer flowers so the floral arrangements weren't as filled out as usual and all the fountains weren't running yet. The Garden was still very pretty with a wonderful blue sky. Very tranquil and peaceful. A line runs throughout the Garden marking the [View Full Entry]

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I'm fortunate enough to have friends who own a pontoon so spent the weekend on the Missouri River. The River is home to plenty of sand bars and a very scary current at times. It is not to be messed with. However, it is gorgeous as well and very cooling on warm days. It's also great for my tan :) Here are a few pictures... I also threw in a State Capitol photo. [View Full Entry]

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Spent the day touring the South and North Units of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Perfect skies and moderate temp. A little windy, but that kept things comfortable. With gas prices now at $3.99/gallon, it's expensive to travel much of anywhere and I was itching to go somewhere, so headed to the western side of my state of North Dakota to see some of our beautiful landscape. Ended up being a great day to tour the Park. We've had plenty of rain recently so everything is greening up well. Made the colors in the Badlands start to pop out. With some [View Full Entry]

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